Number One Observatory Circle is a deep-dive into the lives of the second-most powerful leader in the U.S. — vice president. Despite the fact that vice presidents are a heartbeat away from being the president, many have historically held very little power. Why is that changing? Here are their stories.
I’m Micah Brickner, the creator of this podcast. I live in the quaint, but bustling little city of Lancaster, Pa. — which is also home of one of America’s worst presidents: James Buchanan. I hold both an M.A. and B.A. from Indiana Wesleyan University and I work in non-profit communications.
Although it might not be a perfect parallel to liken Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris to Harry Truman, I have wondered if President-Elect Biden and Democratic leaders chose her as a potential successor to Biden in a way similar to how the party chose Truman to run with Roosevelt for his last term. Should Ms. Harris need to step in and take over the reins of the White House, what might her leadership style look like? Get the answer to this question and many others in this episode featuring an interview with Dr. Kathleen Staudt (https://www.utep.edu/liberalarts/political-science/people/professors/dr-kathleen-staudt.html), professor emerita of political science from the University of Texas at El Paso.
Purchase Dr. Staudt's Hope for Power and Justice: https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Justice-Power-Broad-based-Organizing/dp/1574417940 (https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Justice-Power-Broad-based-Organizing/dp/1574417940)
Purchase Dr. Staudt's Border Politics in a Global Era: https://www.amazon.com/Border-Politics-Global-Era-Perspectives/dp/144226618X (https://www.amazon.com/Border-Politics-Global-Era-Perspectives/dp/144226618X)
10 Dec 2020
No. 48 | Mike Pence
Michael Richard Pence: the vice president who has at so many times been so close to the presidency, yet still so far away. In a singular presidential term marked with so much uncertainty and instability, Pence has often straddled a blurred line between loyalty and preparedness.
30 Oct 2020
No. 47 | Joe Biden
Barack Obama has often been compared to Abraham Lincoln. So, was Joe Biden more like Lincoln’s first vice president, Hannibal Hamlin, or his second, Andrew Johnson? Find out in this special episode of the podcast featuring an interview with Dr. Thomas J. Balcerski, who is an American history professor and the author of Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King (https://www.amazon.com/Bosom-Friends-Intimate-Buchanan-William/dp/0190914599).
Purchase Dr. Balcerski’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Bosom-Friends-Intimate-Buchanan-William/dp/0190914599 (https://www.amazon.com/Bosom-Friends-Intimate-Buchanan-William/dp/0190914599)
25 Oct 2020
No. 46 | Dick Cheney
There was a turning point in Cheney’s career, in which his view of executive power was altered. While some people look at September 11, 2001, as a defining and transitional moment in Cheney’s understanding of the presidential powers, I think it all began around September 8, 1974. As a young man, his worldview was substantially changed when President Ford pardoned Nixon. Over the next several decades, Cheney’s understanding of executive power changed. In this episode, we will look at three presidential pardoning cases in which Cheney was involved. Each case will give us a glimpse into the mind of a rather elusive vice president.
26 Sept 2020
Bonus | Lieberman's Faith
Religion is way more intertwined with politics than we realize. This is one of the reasons why Trump chose the devoutly evangelical Pence as his running mate, or why Biden alludes so much to his own Roman Catholic faith. In this episode, we look at the groundbreaking place in American history that Senator Joseph I. Lieberman holds: he was the first Jewish candidate on a major American presidential ticket.
8 Sept 2020
No. 45 | Al Gore
Many Americans are aware of how interconnected the words “Electoral College” are with the legacy of Vice President Al Gore. He was part of an elite club of only a few incumbent vice presidents who successfully ran for president. I say “successful” because he technically won the popular vote and very likely stood a significant chance of winning the electoral vote had the Supreme Court allowed a statewide recount to take place in Florida. Joining me to talk about the legacy of Vice President Gore is author and political analyst Rich Rubino.
28 Aug 2020
No. 44 | Dan Quayle
1992 was a bizarre election in American history. Going into this election cycle, President George H. W. Bush and his vice president, J. Danforth Quayle were generally doing well. They had achieved decently strong favorability regarding their swift action in the Persian Gulf War. But suddenly, the economy began turning, and while initially, Democrats didn’t expect to have a real chance against an incumbent Republican administration, things began changing significantly.
13 Aug 2020
Bonus | Dukakis' Running Mate
In 1988 Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis chose Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate. One of the most critical reasons for choosing Bentsen was his home state: Texas. While Texas had been historically Democratic, the Republican Southern Strategy had been changing that reality. The benefit of Bentsen was that he was a conservative long-term senator from Texas. I’m not sure that Dukakis could have picked a more qualified vice presidential candidate to run with him. In fact, they really played up the fact that they were like John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson — a Massachusetts man on the top of the ticket and a Texan running along with him.
4 Aug 2020
No. 43 | George Bush
Tecumseh’s Curse is an unproven hypothesis trying to explain how presidents elected every 20 years have ended up dying in office. But in 1981, Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, and despite his hospitalization and injuries, Reagan miraculously survived the assassination attempt. Some people claim that Reagan broke Tecumseh’s curse when he survived this gunshot. I can’t say that I personally believe in Tecumseh’s curse, but I do believe in the vice-presidential curse, which Reagan’s vice president, George Herber Walker Bush appears to have also overcome.
23 Jul 2020
Bonus | Reagan’s Almost-Co-President
This month, July, forty years ago, the Motor City, that is Detroit, Michigan, was afire with wild speculation on who Ronald Reagan would pick as his running mate. The Reagan campaign knew that they needed a vice president who was conservative enough for their die-hard supporters but moderate enough to appeal to a broad swath of voters throughout the country. As Reagan moved ahead in the primaries, defeating other Republicans, including George H. W. Bush, something bizarre came about. There was chatter about Gerald Ford joining Reagan’s ticket as the vice president.
17 Jul 2020
No. 42 | Walter Mondale
In 1976, the Democratic Governor from Georgia, Jimmy Carter, chose Walter Mondale as his running mate, and he would serve in that office for one term from 1977 until 1981. He was the first vice president to have an office in the White House and was treated like a real partner in the administration. Carter was focused on reforming the federal government and trying to make it more effective. Both he and Mondale had realized that the office of the vice president was underutilized up until this point.
10 Jul 2020
Bonus | Truman's Home
Almost exactly one year ago, I was in Kansas City, Missouri, for a work conference. In between responsibilities that I had at a convention, I took some of my free time to explore local history. I decided to hop on a Kansas City bus and travel a few miles east to Independence, Missouri. When I got off the bus and began walking through quaint smalltown sidewalks, I approached a relatively modest, but still beautiful white house sitting back from the road. It was the home of former President Harry Truman, who had also served as vice president.
4 Jul 2020
No. 41 | Nelson Rockefeller
In 1974, the country was still sorting through the aftermath of Nixon’s resignation and now had a president, Gerald Ford, who had never been elected as president nor even as vice president. The nation was in crisis, and the prospect of the vice president assuming the office of the president was no longer a hypothetical, it was a reality. So Ford chose a nominee who carried the clout he needed to get congressional approval, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller.
30 Jun 2020
Trailer
At more than two miles northwest of the White House, the vice president’s residence feels strangely distant from the president. In some ways, it feels like the name of the street, Observatory Circle, is incredibly fitting because of how the role of the vice president often feels like observing the actions of the president. The role of vice president has changed, shifted, and evolved into what it is today. In this podcast, I’m going to be exploring the stories of the country’s second-in-command.
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